No matter what your experience is with website design, there is always more you could use from the basics. It’s hard to find the best tips when so many websites offer website creation advice. This article will help you, though. Ahead, you will find a selection of tips and tricks that can boost your design success.
Graphics are important for any designer but beginners should focus only on the standard graphics on their first several builds. PNGs are currently the best standard for graphics online. Try using PNGs for images that are not photos or text buttons or if an image has over 256 colors. Use GIFs for something with less than 256 colors. You can use Jpegs for photos.
One of the biggest mistakes a newbie designer makes is not verifying how a site looks in several different browsers. What you see might not be what users will see. Do research on the various browsers in use, and design your website accordingly. Checking your website with different operating systems and browsers will help ensure that it works for everyone.
Your site must be simple to navigate if you want to attract visitors. Links should be displayed where users will find them easily. Menus also lend to easy navigation. Link back to the homepage from every other page on your site; this makes it far easier for users to get around.
Functional websites work out for all visitors, regardless of their browser, so it’s essential that your website is tested across all the major platforms. A site that works on Internet Explorer might not display right in Firefox, Google Chrome, or Safari. Verify the way in which your pages load in all major browsers prior to your official launch.
Try not too overuse graphics. Although graphics are necessary make your site project a professional, well-designed and cohesive look, having too many can make it look cluttered. Don’t use graphics just to decorate; use them to improve the site. Using an adequate amount of graphics keeps clutter away and helps you focus on site usability.
Never use pop-ups. It’s annoying to visit a website and get ambushed with a lot of pop-up ads. Many people leave any website immediately if pop-ups occur, even if they’re interested in the website. You can avoid losing customers and visitors, by simply refusing to allow pop-up ads on your website. Any host which requires you to have pop-up ads is a host you don’t want to use!
Make your front page very simple. Those who are shopping the web will make snap decisions about a site based off its front page. Blow the horn about your business and its unique qualities, but reduce the amount of extra fluff on your site.
Check links carefully before you include them on your site. Make sure the links all lead to valid web addresses. Before uploading any page, you should do a thorough test to identify any misdirected links. A visitor who comes across a broken link will question how dated all of the content on your site might be. In order to prevent this from occurring, proactively test thoroughly for full functionality.
A visitor counter on the page is unattractive. Although it may be something that you find valuable, your visitors are not interested in seeing it. Ditch the counter and use tracking software instead.
Before you design a full website, start small. Make some smaller websites so you can easily see which areas you can do well, and which areas you may need more work on. Create pages that encompass plain text to begin, and build from there as you gain confidence.
Office Space
Designing your website and running it, requires your personal office space. Limit exposure to distractions, organize and make the space as efficient as possible. Make sure your office equipment is easily accessible, and ensure that your office space is conducive to designing good websites.
Use a basic, simple layout for your website so it’s easy to change and expand. You should start with the basics, then advance to the more complex functions as you improve your skills and get more experience with the entire process of web designing.
Your design process will be more successful if you are learning at each step of the way. Once you master one facet of website design, move on to the next. This can make your initial construction of the site take longer, but once you’re done with that first one, you’ll be ready to make dozens.
Consider duplicating code you already have to create new pages for your site. Rather than taking the time to constantly start from scratch with HTML coding, just copy existing content and re-save it with a new name. Reusing the master copy of your web page’s HTML code will make the design simpler.
As you have read from the above article, it doesn’t matter what your skills are where web designed is concerned as you should be looking at the basics first. You can find the basics anywhere though, so at times is can be difficult to find exactly what you need. The tips above should be enough to get you started in designing wonderful websites.